Shawn Barber, the Canadian pole vault record holder and 2015 world champion, has died from medical complications. He was 29.
Barber died Wednesday at home in Kingwood, Texas, his agent, Paul Doyle, confirmed to The Associated Press. A cause of death was not yet known. Barber had been experiencing health issues.
Shawnacy Barber (CAN) competes in pole vault men during Golden Gala Iaaf Diamond League Rome 2018 at Olimpico Stadium in Rome, Italy on May 31, 2018. (Matteo Ciambelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“More than just an incredible athlete, Shawn was such a good-hearted person that always put others ahead of himself,” Doyle said Thursday. “It’s tragic to lose such a good person at such a young age.”
Shawnacy Barber of Canada during Men’s Pole Vault at PSD Bank Indoor Athletics Meeting on February 6, 2018 in Duesseldorf, Germany. (Lukas Schulze/Getty Images)
Barber was a standout pole vaulter at the University of Akron, where he captured back-to-back NCAA indoor championships in 2014 and 2015. He won the NCAA outdoor crown as well in 2015, before taking gold later that summer at the Pan-Am Games. Barber carried a wave of momentum into worlds that season in Beijing. He took gold over Germany’s Raphael Marcel Holzdeppe.
A year later, Barber made the final at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in a pole vault event won by Thiago Braz of Brazil.
Barber’s best vault was six meters (19 feet, 8 ¼ inches) on Jan. 15, 2016, in Reno, Nevada. His mark remains the Canadian record.
He’s survived by his mother, Ann; father, George; and brother, David.